Book Review: The Haunting of Autumn Lake by Marcia Lynn McClure

Autumn Lake stopped cold in her tracks. She puffed a breath of summoning courage as she gazed at the old covered bridge before her. Ever since she was a child and Sawyer had read to her the fascinating yet thoroughly haunting story of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Mr. Washington Irving, Autumn had secreted a fear of bridges. Each time she was meant to cross a bridge (especially the old covered bridge on the far side of the orchards), she expected the ghostly headless horseman to appear and attempt to decapitate her. Oh, certainly the tale of the Specter did nothing to soothe her either, for it was said that this was to be a year of the Specter. As the story went, the local phantom, the Specter, only appeared once every ten years—but this was to be the year of the Specter, and Autumn did not like crossing bridges even when it was not a year of the Specter.Gulping down her fear, however, Autumn glanced behind her, assuring herself that there was no headless horseman riding up behind her intent on stealing her head.“He wouldn’t want a woman’s head anyway,” she mumbled to herself, even as rising fear caused her heart to pound in her chest. “And besides,” she said, looking back to the old bridge, “I’m eighteen years old…nineteen in less than a month. Surely I can cross the bridge without runnin’.”Pulling her sketchbook to her chest and tightly folding her arms across it, she spoke aloud to the cattails. “Wish me luck, my darlings…for I do prefer to keep my head attached to the rest of me.”As Autumn stepped onto the bridge, the roof blocked the warm sunshine, making the space inside the bridge dark and gloomy. Yet she’d expected this. What else would one expect of a covered bridge? After all, its very purpose was protection from the elements, and that included the heat of the summer sun. Naturally, Autumn preferred to think of its purpose as being made for something else—the seclusion necessary for the romance of lovers’ trysts.She sighed with disenchantment for a moment—disappointment at never having had a lover of her own. She thought how different it would be to cross the old bridge if her arm were linked to that of a strong and handsome lover. Still, she had no lover, and the fact remained that she must indeed cross the bridge.

No surprise that I loved this story. I’m a huge Marcia Lynn McClure fan and love to escape into her clean romances. If you have not read a Marcia Lynn McClure book before I highly recommend you give her books a try. But don’t start with this one. The Haunting of Autumn Lake is the sequel to her beloved book The Visions of Ransom Lake. You must read that book first to appreciate this one.

Marcia Lynn McClure’s favorite season is Fall. Her love of all things autumn shows in this book. From pumpkins and apples to fall colors and ghost stories, this book was perfect for making me appreciate the beauty of this season. In the author’s notes in the back there are even recipes for some of her fall favorites.

Handsome Ransom and Vaden are no longer newlyweds but are just as in love as the day they married. Their only daughter Autumn is of age but how can she ever find a man as wonderful as her father? Filled with old fashioned values, a hero who will do whatever is necessary to protect a woman’s virtue and plenty of kissing and romance this book is perfect for anyone who like me loves good old-fashioned love stories.

Rating: 5 Stars – I loved it!

Content: Clean

Source: From author for review

This book is currently available only through the authors website: http://distractionsink.com/, but will be available from amazon.com and other booksellers soon.